Refrigerator fan

[waterman480]

Check this thread out. It describes the most likely problems and solutions. Life is much better once the fridge is installed as per spec of the fridge manufacturer - not as built by the RV manufacterer.


https://www.irv2.com/forums/f54/keep...er-545654.html

[waterman480]

PS. We are now in Moab, CO The outside temp is 103. We put in a load of food at Grand Junction, CO two hours ago. Now the temp has dropped to 40 so far. (Propane fridges don't like having to cool down your food. Better if it is already cold.)

[gozermac]

My refrigerator is in the slide out with no roof cap vent. Only an upper side vent. There is an external fan that blows hot air up towards the side vent. Turns out the baffle box to direct the hot air towards the vent is mostly incorrectly covering the coils. Check to make sure you have unobstructed air flow and out your vent. Also, I use propane to cool the refrigerator up front and then switch over to electric. Cooling goes faster.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by gozermac

My refrigerator is in the slide out with no roof cap vent. Only an upper side vent. There is an external fan that blows hot air up towards the side vent. Turns out the baffle box to direct the hot air towards the vent is mostly incorrectly covering the coils. Check to make sure you have unobstructed air flow and out your vent. Also, I use propane to cool the refrigerator up front and then switch over to electric. Cooling goes faster.

That picture looks correct, actually. That vertical baffle is supposed to cover part of the condenser so that the air rising up goes through the condenser and not around it at the bottom.

Ray

[astrnmrtom]

If your refrigerator isn't in a slide, it might not hurt to remove the roof vent top and check to see if there is a gap between the top of the refrigerator and the underside of the roof. This creates a dead air space and partly defeats the chimney effect that draws ambient air in through the lower vent and exhausts the warm air out the roof vent. Some manufacturers just shove the refrigerator into the cabinet and don't baffle that area. I had similar poor cooling in hot weather and found a 3 inch gap between the underside of the roof and the top of the rear of the refrigerator. Used some scrap aluminum flashing to bridge that gap.

I was installing some solar panels and running the wires down through the roof vent and decided to add a a couple 120mm computer case fans above the coil powered by the panels through a 12v regulator so they ran whenever the sun was shining. Those modifications really improved my cooling even on 90+ degree days.

[astrnmrtom]

Another sign of poor door seals is a lot of frost on the fins on the refer compartment.

[waterman480]

Unfortunately, the DW is probably responsible for much of the frost. I keep saying it is not a store. Remember where things are and close the door quickly and tightly!

[gozermac]

Thanks. I’m letting the dealer handle it. I wouldn’t have even looked if I didn’t have a microwave electrical issue. The outlet is in the upper right of the pic and the cabinet gets pretty hot when the refrigerator is running. All good.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by gozermac

My refrigerator is in the slide out with no roof cap vent. Only an upper side vent. There is an external fan that blows hot air up towards the side vent. Turns out the baffle box to direct the hot air towards the vent is mostly incorrectly covering the coils. Check to make sure you have unobstructed air flow and out your vent. Also, I use propane to cool the refrigerator up front and then switch over to electric. Cooling goes faster.

Originally Posted by NXR

That picture looks correct, actually. That vertical baffle is supposed to cover part of the condenser so that the air rising up goes through the condenser and not around it at the bottom.

Ray

As NXR posted....that baffle is Correctly installed
It is suppose to be there in that position to properly direct airflow/draft across the Condenser FINs to remove the heat (Condenser turns hot ammonia vapor into warm liquid ammonia)

to the right of that condenser is the top opening of the FLUE stack....hot exhaust from propane
Might have Dealer check the Flue Cap and insulation (lack of from picture) around that area.

[AJMike]

I took our RV into the local shop that I trust and left it for testing. They told me that the LP regulator was not working properly and needed to be replaced. I asked them why, if the LP regulator was malfunctioning, we were able to use the propane stove without any issue and they told me that the orafice on the stove was so large that the malfunctioning regulator made no difference, but that the flame on the fridge was so weak that it just blew out when driving.

I took the RV to them because I trust them, so I told them to fix it and when we got the RV back we took a trip to the Texas Gulf Coast. Apparently they were right because I had the distinct pleasure of watching the refrigerator temperature drop when we were driving and it was consistently in the mid 30s.

The side effect of having the propane fridge working properly is that I am no longer thinking about having the electric panel rewired to allow the 3 way to use AC when driving. It worked just fine on propane with the new regulator.

Now the next problem is the leveling system which seems to be working very strangely, but that should be the subject of a new post.

[Old-Biscuit]

Originally Posted by AJMike

I took our RV into the local shop that I trust and left it for testing. They told me that the LP regulator was not working properly and needed to be replaced. I asked them why, if the LP regulator was malfunctioning, we were able to use the propane stove without any issue and they told me that the orafice on the stove was so large that the malfunctioning regulator made no difference, but that the flame on the fridge was so weak that it just blew out when driving.

I took the RV to them because I trust them, so I told them to fix it and when we got the RV back we took a trip to the Texas Gulf Coast. Apparently they were right because I had the distinct pleasure of watching the refrigerator temperature drop when we were driving and it was consistently in the mid 30s.

The side effect of having the propane fridge working properly is that I am no longer thinking about having the electric panel rewired to allow the 3 way to use AC when driving. It worked just fine on propane with the new regulator.

Now the next problem is the leveling system which seems to be working very strangely, but that should be the subject of a new post.

Glad you got it resolved......
Thanks for the update


FYI:
stove top burners function not because of the size of their orificies but because they operate on Lower LP Pressure
Stove/oven has it's own LP Reg that controls burner pressures to 10"WC (0.36 psi) (takes the 11"WC and drops/controls it to the 10"WC )
RV LP System Main Reg controls to 11"WC (0.4 psi)

Fridge doesn't heat the ammonia coolant very well at 10"WC or lower
Stove Burners will function/heat quite well at 10"WC

Replacing the Main LP REg allowed the RV LP System to be controlled at the proper 11"WC for fridge/water heater/furnace